Hi, My name is Kathleen but a lot of my friends call me Kat. Katelyn, my adorable niece, asked me once “What it is like to ‘drive’ an airplane?” Well, I have to tell you (and her) that it is kind of like riding your two wheeler bicycle for the first time without training wheels. You feel free! And the first time you do it alone you are very happy and proud to realize all the wonderful things you can do. It’s also kind of like Christmas morning when you get to rip into all your presents – there is the same sense of excitement and fun.

When I was three years old, I flew as a passenger by myself for the first time from Puerto Rico to a small town in Colorado. The flight attendant (or stewardess, as they were called then) gave me my own set of “pilot wings” to wear and brought me up to the cockpit to meet the pilots. I remember standing in the middle, just behind the center console, looking up at all the switches… and then looking down at all the gauges and switches that the pilots use to fly. There were switches and gauges everywhere! I wondered to myself how in the world a person would ever know what to do with all of those things, much less what they were for.

Later, as I sat in my window seat gazing across the horizon, I was amazed at the beauty of this world we live in. I’m sure I was dreaming about angels jumping from cloud to cloud, kissed by the sun as they leapt, having fun and feeling free. I thought it would be wonderful fun to be able to look out at puffy white clouds every day while at “work” and decided then and there I wanted to be a pilot some day.

My path to aviation was not the most direct route. In college I had an Army ROTC scholarship and during my senior year, I requested to be put in the Aviation branch. I had heard it was extremely difficult and didn’t have the highest of hopes that I would be selected, but somehow it happened! I became an Army helicopter pilot and went on active duty for about seven years (flying the UH-1). I LOVE flying helicopters, and I LOVE to hover! Then I went into the reserves where I became an airplane pilot, also (flying the C-12). After a total of 13 years with the Army, I transferred to the Air National Guard and began flying C-130s. During the Air Force training, I flew the “Tweet” (T-37) and “Jayhawk” (T-1), which are both jets. Every other airplane I have flown has propellers.

In the meantime, while I was not on active duty, I took a job as General Manager in charge of all the airline fuel for the airport in Austin, TX. I flew airplanes a lot on the side for fun and built up a lot of flight hours, and then applied for a job with the commuter airlines. I was happy and surprised to get my wish of being an airline pilot and got a job with United Express (Beech 1900s) mostly flying out of Denver. At the time, flying in the Rocky Mountains was the most fun I’d had in an airplane.

After 9/11, I was activated to be a part of Operation Noble Eagle (Homeland Defense operations), then later was sent to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (in Afghanistan). Even under the worst of circumstances, flying in combat was a heck of a lot of fun, although very dangerous… you have to pay close attention to everything you do and everything around you. I flew in combat and then went home early for a military education program. The next year, I was sent to El Salvador to work at the US Embassy. Then, I requested some time off to attend graduate school to study International Affairs. My focus was on National Security which is a big term for studying war, peace and how to keep the people of the United States safe. After that, I was asked to go back on active duty with the Air Force Reserves to help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then later retired. In my “real world” job now, I work on Aviation Security issues for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Today, I know that it truly IS possible to understand all those cockpit switches, gauges, and the mechanics behind them. I know what the angels feel like when they dance among the clouds, because I have surfed through them as if they were waves in the ocean. I know what it is like to hover, and I think hovering may be even a more amazing experience than landing.